The crevasse’s ice wall has begun to crawl with Testors and Boundary Climbers and new ropes and pulleys to carry the Relics to the surface. I catch snatches of whispered conversations between Testors and Climbers. Funny how the structure of the crevasse allows me to hear discussions on the far side of the ice wall, yet discussions taking place right above me remain inaudible. Not funny at all, actually. This strange phenomenon means that I can’t figure out what Jasper found even though he’s dangling directly overheard, yet I can hear quite clearly the conversation among Aleksandr, Neils, and a Climber about their shared discovery of a large cache of weapons—the Tech called “guns”—that the pre-Healing people used for their destructive wars. Gun Relics are always hugely popular finds, as they are almost always of a different breed, and they often lead to an Archon victory. Learning this doesn’t exactly help my mood.
With every overheard whisper, with every gobbled-down meal over the communal fire, with every Testor’s race back to his igloo to study his Relic under the gaze of a Scout serving as Reliquon, I get more and more upset. The Scout-Reliquons are the Relic keepers. I imagine the carrier pigeons landing in the Aerie town square, carrying initial reports of the Relics in the tiny packs around their necks and then the actual Chronicles, and the people’s reactions at the daily Gathering. And I can envision the disappointed expressions on my parents’ faces when, day after day, no report from Eva arrives. But news about Aleksandr and Neils’ Relics does.
By late afternoon of the sixth sinik, the ice wall becomes sapphire, and I gaze up at the sliver of sky I can see from my perch. I have maybe a bell before the first horn of evening sounds, and the Sun makes Her descent. I hold my naneq close to my hollow for the millionth time. It seems that the grey shadow is nearing the surface, but I’ve thought that many, many times over the past few siniks.
Shaking my head to clear it, I examine the ice again. It truly looks darker, as if that damned elusive shadow is finally surfacing from the ice.
I grab my pick and scrape at the emerging shape. After a few ticks, my pick meets with a resistance different than ice or snow. I hitch my naneq to a Claim stake and use my trowel along with the pick. My heart pounds. I can see it! The object is oblong and about the size of my pack. But I can’t get a clear fix on it just yet. A stubborn layer of ice clings to the artifact like winter frost, and I strip it away as hastily as I dare.
This … thing materializes in the low light of my naneq. It glows like a rare jewel in the white-blue of the crevasse wall. The color is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. In the Aerie, the closest shade would be found in the Ark—in the radishes that grow underground in the autumn, or the rare raspberries that burst forth from their delicate bushes in the summer. Or sometimes, you might see something like it in the long sunsets.
What is the name of that color again? I think Lukas used it once for me.
Oh, yeah: pink.
XXV: Aprilus 16 Year 242, A.H.
“Relic!” I call out. My breathless voice echoes loudly throughout the crevasse—too loudly, really—but I don’t care. It’s finally my turn.
The Climber takes tick after tick to reach me, and the wait feels unendurable, particularly in the fading sunlight. My pick and trowel are at the ready, and I’m dying to pry that pink treasure out of its ice grave. Just when I think I cannot wait another tick, the Climber scuttles down the ice wall. It’s the Climber from my first sinik in the crevasse, the one with the shock of white hair. I feel uncomfortable under his steady gaze as we start the ritualistic exchange.
“Are you ready to remove the Relic from the ice, Testor?” he asks.
I feel like screaming “yes.” Instead, I answer calmly in the sacred response, “Yes. It nears the surface, but hasn’t hit the air.”
“I have the Relic bag ready. You may begin, Testor.”
I start chipping out the artifact. I’m so eager to remove the stubborn last layer of ice that I wield my pick a little too roughly. “With care, Eva. With care,” the Climber whispers.
His gentle advice and his use of my name startle me, and I turn away from my Claim to look at him. The Climber meets my eyes. His unflinching gaze makes me feel embarrassed by my reaction. Why do his words surprise me? Is it the advice, or is it that he called me Eva? Both would be frowned upon by the Triad, no doubt. As a Climber, he would be briefed on all the Testors—their names, their family backgrounds, their skills—so, of course, he would know my Water-name. Is it that he’s a Boundary person? A Boundary person wouldn’t ordinarily address a Maiden of the Aerie so familiarly, although I never minded when Lukas called me Eva. Then again, I had to beg him. I don’t know why I feel so funny around this Climber.
I return to my Claim and work a little slower. Soon the Relic reveals itself. The pink material covering the object doesn’t feel like any animal skin or weave spun in the Aerie that I’ve ever seen. It has a consistent pattern and texture that is somehow smooth yet bumpy, all at once. What animal could have yielded this skin? No, it’s not animal hide. The pre-Healing people made fabrics out of all sorts of unnatural materials and by unnatural means.
I chisel around its oblong perimeter. Locked in place for the past two hundred and fifty years, the object releases with a whoosh that sends me flying. I swing back and forth over the crevasse with the Relic gripped in my hands. I know I should reach out to stop myself from getting lanced by one of the jagged ice formations jutting from the opposing wall, but I won’t risk dropping my Relic.
Without a word, the Climber pulls me back to my Claim. My heart thumps again. This is forbidden. Why has he helped me once again? Did Jasper put him up to it? Did my parents? I cannot imagine any one of them breaking The Lex so egregiously to protect me in the Testing, no matter how much they care about me.
I nod my thanks to this Boundary person, who of course does not respond. As if nothing unusual had happened between us, he motions for me to slide my Relic into the special bag he hands me. We are suddenly performing the rituals again as proscribed in The Lex. I place the Relic carefully into the bag. Then I take the bag back from the Climber and put it into my pack.
I say a special thanks to the Gods and start my ascent. With the Climber at my back, subtly pushing me along, I make it to the top with a couple of ticks to spare. I’m desperate to tear open the Relic bag and discover just what I’ve found, but I have to comply with the rituals or lose my Claim. As soon as we reach terra firma, the Climber leaves me to report my Relic discovery to the Scouts, who, in turn, are supposed record it into the Testing book.
I don’t trust that Scout Okpik will allow the recording to transpire without some kind of protest. So I wait, watching the ritual in its entirety. Okpik listens intently as the Climber describes my Relic.
“Pink?” I hear him say loudly across the Testing Site.
Okpik scoffs and glances over at me with a little smirk, and then enters my find into the book without a fight. I guess he thinks my find is worthless—especially after Aleksandr and Neils’s discovery.
I don’t care. I have a chance. Maybe not at winning the Archon Laurels, but at surviving—which is the key out here. I have my Relic. I clutch the bag to me, tight as I dare. I must wait until I return to my igloo to examine it—and even then, under the watchful eyes of a Scout-Reliquon—so I look around the Testing Site. The other Testors are clambering to the surface.
The final horn of the evening sounds. I look around to see if anyone notices the Relic in my hands. No one glances my way except Jasper, who gives me a little grin. I know he’s watched how the days without a discovery have weighed upon me; I’ve caught him staring at me. The more I’ve observed him in return, the less I suspect him of hidden motives. I believe that he really was looking out for me in the crevasse on that first sinik, simply as a Gallant. I think that he might have even finagled access to a secret map, maybe that of his grandfather Magnus, so he would be sure to stay ahead of me in the Testing. To keep an eye on me. Not to win. Or maybe to do both. Which, in a way, I love.